Deep range shots lead Oak Mountain past Panthers

Published 11:37 pm Tuesday, December 11, 2018

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Oak Mountain’s Drew Dunn hit five 3-pointers on his way to 17 points in a 53-36, which was key in the Eagles’ victory against Pelham. (For the Reporter/Larry Dancy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

PELHAM – Despite their youth at times this season, the Oak Mountain Eagles basketball team has looked like a squad capable of making a deep postseason run at the end of the 2018-19 season, and on Tuesday, Dec. 11, the Eagles showed why.

The Eagles played almost flawless basketball on both ends of the floor with just about every player on the team contributing minutes in a dominant 53-36 road win against county foe Pelham.

Oak Mountain (7-4) was able to play hounding defense, that combined with Pelham’s shooting woes and the Eagles’ high percentage from the field, led to a strong overall performance.

The Eagles also hit 11 total 3-pointers in the game, several tightly contested, while limiting the Panthers to just two.

Pelham’s best moments of the night came in the opening three minutes of the game.

The Panthers (6-4) were able to jump out to a 4-0 lead and held Oak Mountain scoreless for the first 3:05 of the game with strong defense, but then Drew Dunn knocked down a 3-pointer to open the flood gates.

His shot sparked a 14-0 run over the next 2:40 of play and a 15-1 run to end the first quarter, which gave the Eagles a 15-5 advantage at the end of the opening period.

Pelham had gone cold from the field after the first couple of minutes of the game, while Oak Mountain started the first quarter struggling and ended the last two minutes struggling from the field.

Those struggles continued for both in the first couple of minutes of the second quarter, but then Oak Mountain found its rhythm yet again.

After a scoreless first 3:23 of the period, Dunn hit a layup to get the Eagles started for the second period of the game.

Nate Rottier then hit a 3-pointer for Pelham to cut the deficit to nine points at 18-9, but then the Eagles were able to not only answer with a 3-pointer of their own, but a 10-4 run to end the period, which gave them a 28-13 lead heading into the half.

It wasn’t an insurmountable halftime lead for the Panthers, but it just didn’t seem as if they had any momentum whatsoever going into the locker room.

Oak Mountain took that and used it to its advantage to start the third quarter thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Stone Evers and Dunn that quickly extended the Eagles’ lead to 21 points at 34-13.

Dunn went on to knock down two 3-pointers in a row shortly after a 4-2 run from the Panthers, as Oak Mountain was able to extend the lead to 44-19 heading to the final quarter.

The final quarter was just a formality with the Eagles’ substantial lead, but Pelham started with some fight thanks to a couple of layups from Chris Brown, who was nursing a left wrist injury in the game.

Oak Mountain answered that with one final momentum swing thanks to an and-1, which sparked a 5-2 run, before the Eagles closed the game out for the 53-36 victory.

Dunn led Oak Mountain with a game-high 17 points, while eight different players scored in all.

Pelham was led by 11 points from Blake Floyd, while Chris Brown posted 10.